BIG FISH birthday boy!
Capt. Dave Sipler
March 16, 2008
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
3/14 - Matthew the BIG fish Birthday boy!
WOW! What a difference a day can make. A complete 180 from yesterday's weather, huh?
Left out this morning at 7:30am with Rick and Matthew Sawyer, it was Matt's Birthday fishing trip.
So when ya have the last of the falling tide in the morning, the Sheepshead spawn going on, a live well full of river crickets (shrimp), a light wind SW wind, and over cast skies. I decided to bottom fish. Because it sure worked on Wednesday when I had Don Zagorski on board. "If it ain't broke don't fix it", RIGHT?
Well, as we sat there anchored up in the river waiting for the bite, the wind would pick up, the skies would darken, and the air temp would grow cooler. Here comes a FRONT. I could just tell, this isn't like Wednesday, and it surely isn't Thursdays weather. So we sat patiently and waited.
Remember the only reason I'll "bait-n-wait" fish, is because it's been very worth it. And now I'm second guessing myself.....rule #1, go with the gut feeling, and never second guess the gut.
I knew something had to happen, and as I was checking one of the baits I felt a tug, and handed Matt the rod. SHEEPSHEAD, and it was a big momma!
RIVER MULES!
(up to 9.5 pounds)
But the bites were far and few between, and the between were small whiting.
So we just stayed with the plan and kept waiting, changing out baits, paying attention to the current, talked on the phone, and watched Matt fight a queasy stomach. And like a real Trooper, he hung in there.
We then went and did some Float-rig fishing as the tide started to flood on the surface.
The water was choppy with the SW wind which is usually a good thing. And Rick hung the first nice Speck, but it came off at boat side.
And the little bitty Bluefish were everywhere, also know as the scourge of spring time. And were eating all the shrimp. But Rick ended up nailing a nice keeper Speckled Trout.
We kept at it, but the blues were incessant. And I went a pulled my anchor and bent the hell out of it, rendering it pretty useless. We looked around
in the river, and there was no current, and now
was high tide. So we headed in to clean fish.
This time of year, even on a kinda crappy weather day, there's still some whopper fish to be had.
And that's why I love the transitional times, Thanksgiving in the fall and Easter in the spring.
Those two holidays....(opps, can't forget good ole St. Patricks Day!) are my favorites.
Least favorite: July 4th, too hot, too many people around.
Jacksonville Fishing Forecast:
This week is going to be a busy one. And the forecast as of now is for not much less than 15 knots of wind ever single day.
Not exactly what I want. But we'll see what the out come is after 5 days in a row of full day trips. Challenging, will be the word.
Target Species:
Speckled Trout, Redfish, Drum, Sheepshead
More Fishing Reports:
